Can my spouse adopt my child from a previous relationship in Connecticut?

Yes, in Connecticut your spouse can adopt your child from a previous relationship through the Probate Court. Stepparent adoption is handled there, and the state has set the process up with stepparent families in mind.

What Connecticut says about the basics

• Court: Your case goes to the Probate Court. The clerk in your county's Probate Court can tell you exactly where to file and what the court charges, since we don't have a fee figure to quote here.
• Residency: Connecticut has no minimum residency period (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-727).
• Home study: It is waived for stepparent adoptions (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-733(a)).
• Child's consent: The consent age is 12 (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-724). Your child's age and wishes can therefore matter.
• Timeline: A stepparent adoption in Connecticut typically takes about 3-6 months.

The other biological parent

This is the part that depends most on your situation. Connecticut sets no fixed number of months for abandonment. Under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-717, it depends on the parent's overall conduct, not a calendar count. If the other parent is unreachable, absent, or likely to object, how the court would treat that depends on your specific facts. Please ask the Probate Court clerk in your county or a Connecticut family attorney about that particular issue before you file.

If your child is already an adult

Connecticut also allows adult adoption, and it is quicker, typically 4-8 weeks. A few points:

• The adopter must be 18 or older, and the adoptee must be at least 18 and younger than the adopter.
• Both sign a written agreement, and one parent of the adult child may join in the agreement between their spouse and the adult child.
• In that route, the non-joining parent's legal relationship ends. The adoptee keeps inheritance rights from a parent who died before the adoption.
• If the adoptee is married, their husband or wife must give written consent (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-735).
• A hearing is required, and the court gives each party notice of the time and place.
• The Probate Court approves the agreement if it finds the two share a relationship similar to that of a parent and an adult child, and that the adoption is in their best interests (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-734).

What changes after the adoption

Once the court approves it, your spouse becomes your child's legal parent. Your clerk or attorney can explain exactly how rights such as inheritance and medical decisions apply in your case.

How we help

StepParent Adoption 360 is a document preparation service, not a law firm. You answer questions online, and we prepare the complete court document package for your county. You then file it yourself without an attorney. The price is $349 for the first child (or one adult adoptee) and $99 for each additional child. Court-ready documents arrive within 24-48 hours after you finish the questions, and we back them with a 100% court acceptance guarantee. We have helped 158 Connecticut families with this process.